When you have three days to play and free flights...

Well then, naturally you go somewhere far. Like Moscow, only we couldn't wrangle our visas (not the same as passports, not all countries require them) in time to go there, or for our next two picks: Rio or Dubai. We basically packed, flew to Atlanta and decided at the airport where we would go. We had two major requirements. First: It has to be in first class. (Because we can, and because at seven-plus months along, I need the space on a longer flight.) Second: We have to be able to get home by Tuesday night. That narrowed down our choices considerably. Paris was wide open, but we've been there twice already. Clayton suggested we fly there and take the train somewhere else in France. Like Rouen, where Monet painted his Cathedral series. Ok. A quick google search about what else there is to see there, and a stop at Venere.com
to get a cheap hotel and we were off.

Rouen France!!!

We had an uneventful flight and even got our train tickets and what-not all sorted with ease. We arrived in Rouen and walked from the train to the Hotel Cardinal
which ended up being about thirty feet from the Cathedral. Amazing! The proprietor was so kind and helpful and the rooms were clean. A big deal for a two star hotel in Europe. Stars do NOT mean what they mean here in the states. We've stayed in three and four stars that were seriously not up to par, so we were pleasantly surprised. We got settled in our room and headed out to explore the town.

The view from our hotel window.

The cathedral was amazing.

We arrived there around one in the afternoon and throughout the day we got to see the cathedral in different lights. It really does glow pink in the setting sun, however I don't think I captured it with my little camera. Luckily Monet did an ok job of it.


The house where he lived and painted from is directly across from the cathedral. It is now a tourist information stop. He lived in apt.#35. Great views of the face of the church. This is the square with the cathedral on the left, his apartment on the right (where the white banner is) and our hotel is the red awning on the building in between.


The other claim to fame this city has is it's history with Joan of Arc. It is where she was burned at the stake for heresy. Poor thing. They have an interesting church there now with a brass tiled roof that is supposed to invoke the ocean. It had a bit of a hobbit feel to it.

The sign marks the very spot where she died.

The Seine runs through town as well, but the part near the cathedral is very industrial looking. Nothing like Paris and it's old stone bridges and walkways.
The city is riddled with old cathedrals. So many that about every other one was boarded up in disrepair. Not enough money to keep them all up. Like this one.
We enjoyed our evening crepes and a late-night dinner. Sadly we only had the one day there, but I highly recommend it as a day trip if you are ever in Paris. You can see a lot of the town in very little time.

The next morning we awoke early to make our way back to Paris and to the airport. We got to Paris fine, but accidentally got on the wrong train to head back to the airport. No problem. We'll just hop off and turn around, we had plenty of time so we weren't worried. Until...

The following is a bit long. If you don't feel like it- you can skip it all.

Clayton hops off and I am right behind him. Only the doors close right in front of me and I can't get off the train. It was just like in the movies. Separated. I look up in horror as Clayton mimes that he will stay right there. I will just go to the next stop, turn around and meet him back there. Ok. Still no worries. Of course, the next stop is ten minutes down the track. I know he wont know that and will be expecting me back much sooner. I eventually get back to that station, only I am let off on an entirely different track. It is a three floor station with four to eight tracks on each level. Yikes, remember, no cell service here, so no way to contact each other. I start looking for Clayton, up and down, back and forth, calling out his name like a moron. No Clayton. Twenty minutes pass, thirty... did I mention I am seven plus months pregnant? Walking is a lot slower than normal, I am dragging a suitcase, and my hormones aren't helping anything. I start crying. And my prayers to find him turn to prayers to just keep it freaking together. I couldn't stop crying. So I look like a true idiot. Giant, swollen, sobbing, lugging a bag in my long Mary Poppins coat that doesn't even button in front. I also had on a lime-green sweater, in case anyone didn't notice me. I quickly learned how to say "Are you ok?" in French as I heard it a few times. Each time I had to smile and pat the hand of the inquirer to ensure them that I was indeed ok, and not in labor. And I was ok really. We both had our wallets, train tickets, credit cards and free flights home whenever we needed. It wasn't so much a life or death situation, but it was enough in my hormonal state to make me feel like the heroine of a tragic novel.

Did I mention that this giant station did not have a bathroom? It's common in several areas of Europe. They figure that the next one has one, so no need to put one here. It does keep down on crime and stuff, but have you ever been seven months pregnant? I was also hungry (boohoo) but didn't want to stop and eat until I found my husband. There is also no paging system, information desk, help desk, nothing. A store that sells crystal baubles sure, but no- no bathroom.

Does anyone remember Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the Nov 2008 Conference? About his mother getting off the train to get food for her four kids, only to have the train gone when she gets back? During WW2, with her husband serving in the war. There is a real emergency. The talk is called The Infinite Power of Hope. I will email a copy to you if you want. Only it steals the thunder from my story. I didn't remember it at the time, I wish I had, I might have felt less pathetic.

Back to our saga.

I knew Clayton would be looking for me too, and realized that in a train-station this big, we could circle each other all day and never see one another. I had to debate the impossible notions of what he would normally do, and what he thinks I would do, and how that would change what he would do. Would he stay and look all day? Would he go on to the airport? Does he know that we even got a clear message to each other through the closed doors? It's like that scene in The Princess Bride where Vizzini and Westley have a battle of the wits. There is no right answer. One hour, two hours. I have been walking around forever, we have missed our chance to make our first flight and still no Clayton. From all of the flying and walking the days before, my feet are twice their normal size and my back is killing me. After nearly three hours and constant praying and searching, I finally decide to just head on to the airport without him. The second I make that decision I feel fine. Not relieved or happy, just a calm. Does anyone really doubt the power of prayer? You really shouldn't. So I get on the train, go back to the main hub where I can gladly pay to use the bathroom (yes they make you pay- could you imagine in the States? People would never put up with it.) get a chocolate croissant and a water at Paul's and get on the next train to the airport.

Once there, after checking at the desk to see if he has been there, I decide to plant myself down and wait in the one spot where he should go to check in for a flight. And I start crying all over again. Five minutes later he appears. I can't even explain how I felt to see him again. Great, I'm crying again. Sorry to be so dorky, but it has to be a glimpse of what seeing your loved ones again after you die feels like. He had gone to the airport an hour earlier and had been looking for me there ever since. We checked in for a later flight and made our way home. About six hours later than we planned, but together and happy.

And we went home in first class, in case anyone was feeling sorry for us, let me just pull that rug out from under you.

...did they explode?

No they did not! (See last post.) Hooray! I bucked up and got dressed up to go out in the cold to retrieve the bag of beverages. I got there in the nick of time to find them firm but not solid. So ya- that truly must be what all of you have spent the last two days worrying about. I also got a nap before we headed to our prenatal class. Good thing too as it wasn't exactly a show stopper. A lot of common sense information, a lot of review of stuff we already knew and a lot of idiots asking either stupid questions ("There are no stupid questions." I completely disagree. There are plenty.) or questions about stuff the nurse JUST COVERED. But being the goody two shoes I have always been, I enjoyed answering the harder questions the teacher asked, even if just in my head. Ok, so most weren't really that hard. Or at least they shouldn't be. Did any of these people read their pregnancy books? Have they ever been around a pregnant person? Have they watched an episode of the Cosby show?

It reminded Clayton and I of our engagement. Before we got married everyone told us to read "Between Husband and Wife" by Lamb Brinley. Our sweet bishop even gave us a copy to read aloud together. So like good little troopers we did as asked. And laughed through most of it. I hope I'm not offending anyone who really liked that book. It was just a bit ridiculous. If you've taken even a Junior High level health class before, or have read a copy of Cosmo in the past ten years, then you really do not need to read this book. We felt bad for the couples who might have found it insightful.

So prenatal class is a bit like that. There was a lot of good information given, I just can't imagine getting to your 7th month or so, and not have picked up any of it yet. One good part was just the tour of the hospital. I hate not knowing where to go or what to do, so that put me at ease for the big event. We also enjoyed making fun of the other couples. Oh- by the way, we aren't good people. Sorry if you were under a misapprehension there. We didn't say anything to anyone but each other, but still. Very immature. The girls were all fine, it was just the annoying husbands who gained our disrespect. There was the Show Off, who apparently knows more about vaccines than the visiting pediatrician and more about episiotomies than the delivery nurse. The Idiot who kept embarrassing his wife with questions about how often things go wrong. The Front-Row-Joe who just would not shut up, and a few other characters.

Of course, then there's us. The two juveniles, who despite being a few years older than everyone in the class, could not stop giggling. Not over body parts or functions, no. Just our own amusements. However, anyone who might of heard us laughing wouldn't know the difference. So we probably looked like morons. Oh well. One thing that kept us giggling? Deciding early on that we could earn treats by saying certain inappropriate phrases aloud. Which ones? I'll list them, so if you are ever in a class like this, you can avoid them.

Sweet!
Yowza
Gross!
That's what she said.
etc...etc...

Ya- very erudite. So all in all, nothing exploded. Not our drinks, nor our heads from the wealth of information we covered that day. Although watching the birthing videos could make you get close. The vignettes on Chris & Paula and Lourdes & Jonathan were a special treat. Why is it that any video on childbirth uses a national geographic (ie: Extra nude, and usually a bit on the un-photogenic side.) couple as it's focus? I think it's because if you are willing to have a camera crew follow you around, you are a little more "free" with everything else as well. Blech.

For the record, the only people allowed in our delivery room will be me, baby, Dr and maybe Clayton. He isn't even 100% sure he wants to be in there yet. He's not the best around needles and such. In which case my mom would be a discreet alternate. TLC's A Baby Story often shows delivery rooms packed full with father-in-laws, brothers and even neighbors hanging out, videotaping the action from the "wrong" end. Seriously! Ok, so my head did just explode a little.

7 months and charming

Good morning. It is 6:00 AM and I have been awake for roughly three plus hours now. Welcome to my world. This has been the most irritating (well, almost) of the "bad" pregnancy symptoms. Normally sleeping is something that I excel at. I'm a champ. As a kid I could sleep through fire alarms (not really a plus...) and our pet trains haven't bothered me for the two and a half years I've lived here. But for the last few weeks I wake up on average every 45 minutes or so. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but not today. I'm finding that if I have anything on my schedule I am done for. If my eyes are open, my head is spinning with lists and worries and what not. Right now I am aware that I left a bag of groceries in my trunk. The bag contains a 2 liter bottle of caffeine free Diet Coke, one Gatorade and a bottle of Cranberry Juice. The thought of them freezing and exploding all over our new stroller has kept me extra awake. But it is too cold to venture out and get them just yet. So here I type.

Also, today is our Prenatal class at the hospital. Six hours of... I really don't know what. We are supposed to bring pillows. That's about all of the information I could get out of the lady on the phone. I hope this class is informative. Poor Clayton is not enthused. I just hope there are lots of breaks for treats.

Well, this post is truly the most boring thing I have written in ages. And that is saying a lot. Hope everyone has a super Saturday. Luckily I get to go play with my fun friends later today after my class ends. Right now I am going to go try and get a nap, or watch 30 Rock online. I know you are all on the edge of your seats, so I'll keep you all posted on my morning activities and the state of the beverages.

Little bits

As promised in my last post, I wanted to share some of my favorite little things we have collected for our little girl. Most of them are onesies. When we first found out from our ultrasound that we were having a girl I picked up two at the Gap on a ridiculous sale.

A little back story. Growing up I loved the Roger Hargreaves Mr. Men and Little Miss books. I even found them on an overnight in Canada about 7 years ago and bought a whole bunch. I have an ok collection. My favorite's were Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Chatterbox, Mr. Bump and Mr. Messy. One picture from our ultrasound shows our little miss with her mouth open.

Clayton joked "Oh, great. She's going to be real chatty." Thus:

And in case anyone was wondering if I was going to be obnoxious and dress my baby like me...

One of our favorite websites is www.threadless.com

For Christmas Clayton bought me a few new shirts for the baby. Here are some of them.

This next one is possibly my favorite. Who doesn't love My Little Ponies? Remember how they had stars and rainbows or cupcakes on the bums? Look closely at the picture below.

This one cracks me up as well. It's just so cute!

Ok, now for the painfully cute stuff. I recently went on a shopping trip with four of my nieces, two nephews and a sister in law. I didn't plan to buy anything as I don't feel the least bit cute (a major deterrent to shopping as we all know) and I don't need any clothes for the baby. Or I should say I don't know what I'll need yet, and don't want to end up with clothes she can't wear. That was the plan anyway, I was just along for the ride and the opportunity to hang out with fun people. We went to Fashion Place Mall. I never shop here as it is out of my way quite a bit. Now I know why I REALLY shouldn't go there. A little store called Janie and Jack. Here is their website if you need to understand more.
www.janieandjack.com
I was lucky to make it out of there with as little as I did. Here are two dresses that I purchased. On a great sale, mind you. But still, not exactly on the list of things to buy.

Could you die? Look at the little smocking. I bought this one for next year's Christmas. Is that a bit crazy? Oh well. I am a sucker for fancy-schmancy.

And this one too. So lovely. I believe I was thinking Easter, but it is sure to be too big for her by then. That's ok. Summer is a good enough excuse for me.

And you have to see the little pleated underskirt detailing. That is what is killing me about this store. Everything has tiny little embroidered flowers and pin-tucks and heirloom details that make you want to cry. Clayton almost did. Ok, he didn't get close. But I had a hard time breathing and not squealing the whole time I was in the store.

I have a lot more that I could show already. For being a few weeks (9 if you are enjoying the creepy floating baby off to the side) away from wearing clothes, this little gal has got a pretty sweet wardrobe set up. I haven't even started with the stuff that Linda found me at the quarter sale in Boise. (A treasure trove of finds, all for a quarter, once a month... it's a magical thing.) Alright. Thanks for indulging me here. I will try to blog about something more boring next time. Til then, you could also visit the sites wonderful Shauna has shown me.
www.tippicanu.com
or
www.tinymcsmall.com

Holiday Festivities

The Holidays were terrific this year. Reason one: Because I am getting the one thing I truly truly want more than anything else in the world. Two: Because that present lets me eat like it's the holidays everyday (sorta). And three: We got to celebrate on a bunch of extra days, so we got a lot of partying bang for our family buck. Like the 20th of December. My oldest sister Cassie couldn't make it down for the day of Christmas so we had an earlier party when she and all of her kids could make it. There are 6, so no easy task.

Warning: This blog entry is heavy on my family and Allie in general. If you don't know these people, you may not care much for what follows. Enter at your own boredom

My lovely parents did the whole shebang of a dinner early, which might be my favorite part of it all. Our Christmas dinner is always the exact same as our Thanksgiving dinner. My dad does 90% of the work himself, including homemade pumpkin pies with homemade crusts. Here is my muse Allie enjoying a piece of it. Or rather the homemade (ok, I'll stop.) whipping cream off the top.

Here she is resting between bites and talking to my mom. It was my mom's piece of pie that Allie had commandeered in the first place.

Here is my nephew Tommy (Allie's older brother) holding my niece Allison's daughter (my great niece!) Ayla. Got that? Ayla is so lovely and fun at this age. 9 months I think. This picture made the blog because she would NOT stop staring at Tommy while he held her. She didn't show the same love for anyone else like that. Kids are so funny that way some times. What's so interesting about Tommy that a 9 month old is mesmerized? I mean, he is a super cool guy, but how does she know?
My niece Caitlin has a tiny Chihuahua named Mika. Here are my great-nephews (Seriously, are we catching the great part of these sentences?) Nolan and Jordan carefully holding her. She is fragile and has already had a spell of bad luck with her tiny ribs. (Not injured by a kid.)


Here are Clayton and Mika. By the way. That would be a teeny-tiny Juicy Couture sweat suit that Mika is sporting. What are you going to do? This is why I probably can never have a dog quite that small. How can you resist dressing something up that is the size of a Barbie doll? You really can't.


A few days later Clayton and I invited ourselves over to spend the night at Tom & Jenni's house. Mainly to watch Allie enjoy her presents Christmas morning. What is more fun than watching a 2 year old get excited over an orange? Ya ya, she like the presents a ton, but her biggest reaction was on seeing her sister Megan get an orange out of her stocking. Too funny. Here the two girls are in their Christmas Eve pajama's.

My niece Megan and her cousin Kaylee put on a family talent show of sorts each Christmas eve. They make up an impromptu list of what everyone in the family will do and even print off a program. You don't get a say in the matter. They call it the "Sharing of personal talents". As Clayton and I were present this year, he got to give a recap of recent sports news while I had to give a recap of recent celebrity gossip.

(By the way, these really are our talents. Just try to beat us in Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit. It hasn't been done. This isn't necessarily something we are proud of. And we really want you to play with us.)

Kaylee's sister Stephie had to do an interpretive dance to "Santa Baby". Luckily all the girls joined in. Including little Allie. "What? We are dancing now? Ok!" Allie is always game.


On actual Christmas day we went back to my parents for a re-do. It was nice and laid back and cozy. Lots of food and games and general hanging out. Here are me and C in our Christmas portrait of sorts. Note the ever growing tummy? Only two more months. Too bad I hit my target weight gain already. Oh well.


My friend Julie and I got to stop by my friend Betsy's house to see her, Jay and little Spencer while they were in town. Our families lived just a few blocks away while we were in high school. That night we got to enjoy some Rock Band on the Wii, but more importantly a little Spencer time. How cute is he?


Christmas is soon followed by Clayton's birthday on the 30th. He turned the big 2-8 this year.
Here he is blowing out the candles.



Oh ha ha ha. They don't blow out! Clayton is such a good sport. Ya- has anyone actually been fooled by these? They are fun nonetheless.


New years was also great. Good times, great food, fantastic family and friends. Oh, and lots of Rock Band. I'm getting pretty good. All in all it was such a great way to end 2008. Oh, I should probably do a recap of 2008 blog. Maybe that will be the next one. Or maybe my next blog will be about the exciting stuff we got. Ya- all materialism and such nonsense. But seriously, you need to see the little stuff. It's so eye-stabbingly cute. Ok, till then. Happy New Year!

Were you maybe wondering what things I don't miss about my job? No? Well, then this isn't the blog entry for you.

So it is official. I am on Maternity leave. And it's weird. I have odd feelings of guilt, like I have a test I should be studying for and decided to play video games instead. It was definitely high time that I took leave, yet it has been one of the harder decisions I have ever had to make. I don't know who I think I am letting down here, probably just myself. And I have to fight the annoying thoughts of "Well, so and so flew this long", or "she worked right up to her delivery..." blah blah blah. I have to keep convincing myself of a few things to keep me sane.
I know that work was getting physically too hard for me. I know that I got "big" very fast while other women are "normal-sized" longer. (I know that I am fine, just the right size, and not a planet, yet.) It's just a fact that I cannot do a lot of the things that my job requires anymore. Let me list a few to make myself feel better. Thanks for indulging me.

1-Repetitive bending below the waist. My job includes picking up a million little things off the floor of the airplane throughout the day. I also have to cross seat belts and clean out seat pockets after each flight. This is a lot of twisting and stooping that is pretty difficult while pregnant.
2-Lifting luggage above my head. Even though flight attendants aren't really supposed to stow people's bags for them, it's always easier if we just do it. You would be amazed at how some people think a tiny back-pack wont fit ("Just let me do it!") and then others swear that their 800 pound yak (Thanks Brian Regan) will fit just fine. It wont. Even though I tried to refrain from helping people with their stuff, there is always a little old lady or disabled passenger that needs help. I also still had to stow my own overnight bag a few times each trip. Or carry my bags up a few flights of stairs a few times a week. Dr says 25 pounds is about the limit and that was getting harder to enforce.
3-Long periods of standing. I could usually take my jump-seat for a spell, but it is ram-rod straight and uncomfortable. I could also sit on an atlas container (the metal cupboards that hold the sodas, we aren't supposed to sit on them) but it is pretty low to the ground. So we stand. A lot. and it's not the best.
4-Long, long, long days. This is the one that got me the most. An average day is anywhere from 9 to 12 hours. That doesn't include the time it takes to get to the airport (1 & 1/2 to 2 hours), airport shuttle & go through security (1/2 hour or less at a good airport), ride to or from the hotels (5 to 40 minutes each way) etc..etc... When flying locals an average day for me was 15 hours from the time I left my house to the time I got home. Ugh. Three day trips had shorter days, but it meant I had to pack a bigger bag, which means more weight, which means more lifting... See the problem?
5- Long days with no real breaks and no real opportunities for a healthy meal. Breaks are random and poorly spaced throughout the day. Packing food for three days is a pain in the neck. Keeping it cold without fridges for three days is also hard. Not having microwaves available at half of your hotels is also a drag. Packing a sandwich and a banana, but then wanting the freaking airport Burger King instead, is also sometimes a problem (for me at least.) And as it goes in the airline business, a two hour break can turn into one hour behind schedule due to weather or mechanical delays. So that lunch break you were looking forward to is now gone and any other breaks you might have had are now eaten up in trying to get back on schedule. We eat a lot of peanuts.

And there are other things too. Like being clumsier and dropping things a lot. The bad winter weather makes it easy to slip on the hard tarmac (as I found out repeatedly). Super awesome hormones make me a little less inclined to patiently listen to the lady in 8C explain why she needs to hold her cat throughout the flight, even though he isn't a service animal and the person next to her is allergic. And the same hormones make me a little less sweet when the umpteenth person says: "WOW. Should you be flying?!" Because my honest answer is "Probably not." But they get a fake smile and a: "You betcha! Now what would you like to drink?"

So last Monday I was dressed and packed for a two day trip. I was battling the blizzard from heck inch by inch, to make my way to work when I finally wondered "Why am I trying so hard to do this?" Clayton isn't making me, SkyWest isn't making me... so who...?" Ya- just me. So I called in, talked to my chief and started my leave. I couldn't enjoy it at first, but today has felt like the first real day of my break. And I plan to use it. I have mounds of sewing projects I want to finish, rooms that have been begging to be cleaned out, and a baby to try and keep healthy and safe. That should be enough for now.

I know I will still face the "demons" of The SuperWomen from time to time. We all know at least one. One annoying brag-hag who makes you feel vastly inferior and lame. You know, the ones who seem to work full time everyday till they deliver, all while going to school full time, raising three other children under three, serving as the Relief Society president, and still finding time to out-quilt Martha Stewart. Well good for them, but I will close this entry with my mother's favorite poem of all time, which is in line with my current train of thought.

"Song for a Fifth Child" by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton 1938

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

hang out the washing and butter the bread,

sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,

and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for Children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep......

Christmas CD 2008

About 5 years ago I came up with the idea for our family to exchange personalized mixed cd's instead of presents. Each year each person or couple makes a mix tape of whatever they want, and burns a copy for each person. In years past I have done favorite slow songs, all classical, all dedications, and a few general mixes. Clayton usually does his favorite from the past year. It's a lot of fun. Sadly it has petered out to where only Clayton, my brother Adam and I do them anymore, but I still hope it will keep up.

So here is my mix for this year with a few details. A few old ones, a few new ones and a few baby ones. If anyone wants a copy, let me know and I will burn you one. Otherwise this list is for my family who already have theirs. Merry Christmas.

1-4th of July. Azure Ray. Definitely a great passing of the torch, if Mazzy Star were passing her torch. So pretty, almost haunting.

2-Grapevine Fires. Death Cab for Cutie. This is my favorite track off the new album. They always tell such interesting stories in their songs. Little bits of snatches of stories from some one's life. And who doesn't love a chorus that sings: "Everything will be alright"?

3-Blue Headlights. Shout Out Louds. I just love this song. One day I was listening to my I-Pod on shuffle and it stopped me dead in my tracks. (We have a lot of songs on our i-pods I have never really listened to.) I love the lyrics.

4-Heartbeats. Jose Gonzales. This is a cover of the original by The Knife. It reminds me of Iron & Wine's version of Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. Both amazingly well done, just two great versions.

5-Space Oddity. Natalie Merchant. Lovely cover of David Bowie's classic. My sister in law Rachel sings this one at her shows. Don't have her version, or the Cat Power version (which is mind blowing but sadly not for sale, durr) which are superior to this one. But this one is lovely too. Such a great song.

6-America. Josh Groban. This is probably my favorite Simon & Garfunkel song. (Well, and The Only Living Boy in New York, and...) I love Josh Groban, I know he is a bit much for some of the guys, but this is a great pared down live version I hope everyone will like. As a kid I was always shocked at the cigarette references. Man I was such a goody two shoes.

7-Rocky Took A Lover. Bell X1. This is Damien Rice's old band. Great song. Sorry- there are two swear words in it. One is a**h*** which is unfortunate and the other is arse. Which is just funny. Technically the same word, why is one ok and one not. Oh, they both aren't ok? Oh well.

8-Buildings & Mountains. Tiger Republic. Great song by a relatively unknown band. Good stuff. Of course this is my list, so naturally I think it's all great.

9-The Ballad of Love and Hate. The Avett Brothers. This is just cute and adorable. I like the imagery of the two "characters". Also- "whatever" is one of my favorite words.

10-Joyful Girl. Ani Difranco. She could sing the phone book and I would listen.

11-Wintersong. Sarah Mclachlan. This is a Christmas-y song, which I normally try to leave off my cd's. But it is just a touching song about a lost love. Julie's cousin lost her husband last year and I always think of this song when I think of her. And it usually makes me cry. Then again so did X-Men this year. (Darn hormones.) Don't we love to get way too emotional sometimes? No? Just me? Oh well. It is still a good reminder to remember the good times of the season with our families.

12-Watercolours in the Rain. Roxette. Forgive the spelling. They are European. I've loved this song since I was 13 or something. Another song lately is blatantly stealing this melody, and every time I hear that one, I get annoyed and want to hear this one. So I have revisited this a bit lately. PS. I can't think of the stealing song, but it will come to me.

BABY SONGS

13-Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel). Billie Joel. Here starts the baby songs. This is just sweet and pretty. Who doesn't love Billie Joel? Besides his neighbors whose houses he keeps crashing into.

14-What a Good Boy. Barenaked Ladies. This isn't exactly a song for a baby, but I love the beginning two lines about the expectations placed on children. One swear word. D***. Sorry. I like the live version of this song better than the album versions for the piano at the end.

15-When You Dream. Barenaked Ladies. This is a song for babies. Great lyrics.

16-Daughter. Loudon Wainwright III. This is Rufus's father for those of you that remember Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk from my cd two years ago. Interesting names huh. Anyhow, this is just the cutest song from a father about a daughter. The lyrics are so so cute.

17-Three Little Birds. Elizabeth Mitchell. (Not the actress) This is a cover of Bob Marley's feel good anthem. The child singing is her daughter Story. And I think her husband is the other voice. Pretty adorable.

18- Everyday. Carly Comando. Familiar boys? This is from the NBA commercials. I love piano pieces like this one, dynamic and powerful without other instruments. I put it at the end with the baby songs although I don't know if it qualifies as a lullaby.

Snow day, Temple and Ants in my pants can apparently be ignored.

No kids of our own just yet, despite the fact that people repeatedly ask if I am delivering this week. Nope, ha ha. Sure do like hearing that though. No- about three more months still. I am just super-awesome-big. Deal with it.
Anyhow- the first real snow last Saturday was still something to enjoy as we were at little Allie's house (technically Tom & Jenni's). A team effort got her into her snow gear and outside. Her gloves did keep her hands warm, but she had no individual finger movement at all. Just two shovels which she used to scoop snow and then drop. Tom got all dressed up too and she really enjoyed it. She spent the better part of an hour out there while he shoveled the walks.

A proper BYU fan all in blue.

The night before Clayton and I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with his parents. What a lovely evening. The grounds looked so pretty. You can't take a bad picture of the Temple. A crooked one, sure. But it is one photogenic building.


The moon was full and huge (kinda like me) at the beginning of the night. When we came out it was normal sized and just peeking between the spires of the Temple. Very pretty. (I however stayed the same size, and the only thing I can "peek" between is maybe two barns)


Here we are. Coats don't fit me anymore, and I can't justify buying a maternity one. At work I wear my regular coat and just hike it up to fasten the top button somewhere near my chin. As if I already didn't look cool enough in my uniform. (See older posts.) Luckily I have a few wraps like this one for nights out. They are fantastic, but not exactly slimming. Ah well.
So, can we just pretend this is our Christmas card? Ya- until we have kids I just don't feel like making the effort with stamps. Next year baby!

Merry Christmas 2008!

Love Marianne & Clayton Firth

And today it is coming down in droves! Holy Moly! I had such plans to get things done! Sadly most are home chores, so the snow really isn't impeding my progress, and yet...
Here I sit at 2 something in the afternoon in my sweats listening to Christmas music. In between games of Zuma I am obsessively checking every one's blogs to see if anyone has written anything new. Durrr. Come on friends! Write something! My dishwasher needs to be unloaded, laundry to be started, presents to be wrapped, and sewing projects are glaring at me from the other room (who knew they could give such dirty looks?) So could you all help a girl out? How am I supposed to procrastinate when you haven't given me anything to read since this morning? I also should go buy milk and eggs. I shudder to think of what Clayton has been eating the last three days while I was at work. Without milk he is deprived of his one major food source: boxed cereal.
Alright- just writing it out is spurring me into action. The Christmas season is upon us and I am so excited!!!! So much to do, but all (ok some) with such fun results! Namely: parties!

The bozo in seat 1C and stealing from other people's other blogs

I had to work a three day trip this week. Ugh. Tired, sick of airport food, sick of airports and seriously pondering how some people can be so mean and or stupid. Most of my passengers are super awesome, but it only takes one doofus to ruin a flight. Well done 1C. You are my winner of the most annoying passenger of the week. I wont go into details, and most of it is smell related, but a quick list would include:
1-Taking off his shoes to make the whole forward cabin and galley smell like hot, foot-death.
2-Eating corn-nuts. I am sorry if you like these, but on a plane they smell like #1. Wee. Ya got me here? Shudder.
3-Wearing Patchouli. A lot of people do not know what this is. It is a hideous oil that hippies wear to cover the fact that they haven't showered. So it is usually the overwhelming stench of patchouli combined with BO. Super awesome. (PS:He was in a business suit.) If you are unfamiliar with it, go to a head shop or health store and ask if they have it, smell it, and then remember the times you have hated it before, but didn't know what it was. Dave Matthews concert, college dorms etc... PS. If you don't know what a head shop is, then good for you. It's where they sell bongs and other "tobacco" related items.
4- He kept "shushing" me and the other flight attendant if we started talking in the galley. Bugger off hoser! I am allowed to talk to someone for the freaking three hours I am stuck in the galley with no where to sit and nothing to do. People talk on planes. Deal with it. If you are so special as to afford first class, then buy those freaking headphones that cancel out the noise.
5-He had all the room in the world, yet every time I had to walk past him in the aisle he would hold his paper fully stretched out into the aisle so I had to beg him to let me pass, or just push right past it with all of my giantess-glory. Which is what I chose to do after the first two times of asking only to have him deeply sigh and make a production of angrily folding it all up. By the way- he was on the aisle seat with no one next to him. He could have just shifted to his right, but I imagine he was making a point.
6- He ordered a white wine, took a sip and then ask for a red instead. Later he ordered a coffee with three creams and two sugars, took a sip and said he had ordered it with no sugar. Whatev. When he ordered a scotch on the rocks, took a sip and then "decided" he wanted a whiskey instead I thought the other flight attendant was going to show him the door. Some people.

So that was more detailed than I meant it to be. Wow, this is why I don't usually talk about work at home. Too much irritation.

Now don't get me wrong, normally my job is awesome and I enjoy being there. It has it's hard days, and now that I am massive and uncomfortable all the time it gets harder each trip. I might have one or two more weeks in me, but we shall see.
The only upside of being gone for three days is that I come home with a new appreciation for my cozy house, want to snuggle with my husband and get to catch up on blogs and e-mail. Like cute Allison's. She wrote an awesome bit about her "grown-up Christmas list" like the one in the Amy Grant song. Here is the link.
http://michaelallisonhansen.blogspot.com/
It was inspiring. She made the point that her list isn't as "world peace" as Mz. Grant's. Maybe a bit more materialistic. However, when compared to mine it looks like hers was written by mother Theresa. Anyhow, here is my blatantly stolen Grown-Up Christmas List. Thanks Allison. Let's start with the far fetched and work our way down. I'll go with twelve for the twelve days of Christmas.

1-For my pregnancy to be a breezy total of three months of baby kicking and nothing else, followed by a brief and easy labor.
2-To have Martha Stewart come and arrange my kitchen pantry and cabinets. And while she's at it she can invite Mr. William Sonoma over to update my pots and pans.
3-Since we are playing make believe here, how about Sufjan Stevens hanging out in my living room playing Christmas songs during the day. At night I would like Johnny Mathis. On special occasions like Christmas Eve we can invite Josh Groban.
4-To enjoy holiday eating without feeling like I am awful, cruel mother who is giving my baby the shakes by over consumption of Cadbury chocolate balls.
5-To have the gumption and time to paint the whole dang place. This one I could conceivably handle I guess. I dream of clean, matching walls that don't show the signs of five years of bachelor living. It would just be a major pain to take down all of the frames and pictures and move furniture and stuff.
6-To know how to organize my spare rooms better. I have craft and sewing stuff in every room of this house. And I'd like to have a crystal ball to see if I will ever really need that tube of paint or yard of lace, instead of hanging onto every leftover from every project.
7-For our fish to die. That sounds awful, but let me explain. He is old. Like six years old. For a fish that is like 147. All his friends died this last year, and now I feel bad for him. The fish friend I miss the most is the wall sucker guy who kept the tank nice and clean. The filter isn't enough, and I dread cleaning the giant tank he now has all to himself. I can't flush him or even give him to my niece. (As that is the same as flushing him. Sorry Abby.) Do vets put down fish?
8-For the winter to stay nice and dry, except for the week of Christmas, but then back to dry. And for the temperature to hover around 40 degrees or higher. And for none of this to affect the water levels or drought conditions.
9-To be finished with my shopping. I am almost there, and I have had a blast this year. But I have one standout, frustrating, blank that is still bothering me. What do I get *****? (Bleeped out name, not dirty word. This person is not a dirty word.)
10-To be able to paint, sew, photograph, bake or write what I really imagine in my mind. Lately a lot of my results have been more than a bit disappointing. To have the time and patience to really try.
11-To not have missed the last three Oh Sweet Sadie shows. Durr. I haven't stopped dreaming about a pair of green shoes I saw there (four shows ago) and can't find them online.
12-To have everyone happy this Holiday. And I don't mean that in the pageant way. It just seems like a lot of people are having a harder than usual time lately and it's frustrating that I can't do a thing to fix any of it. No specifics, as they aren't my stories to share, but there is a definite trend of really sad things happening. I hope everyone can get through them to a shinier and better, greener grass, sun is shining side of things soon.

Ok, like Allison asked: What would be on your Grown-up Christmas List?

I'll take things that glitter for $1000 Alex.

Oh I love my Christmas stuff! I tend to gravitate towards mixed shades of blue for any new project, (old bedding, bathroom redo, my wedding colors etc...) so when I decided to choose a theme for our tree two years ago, it was an easy choice. And like my friend Heather T. (Hi Heather!) I love all things sparkly. I try to keep it toned down in clothes and decor, but holidays are begging for it. Last year we had no sparkle as we were barely home for the month of December and almost didn't put up a tree. Clayton had just bought a collection of He-Man figurines off E-Bay and so we just put those up as ornaments. Of course most people liked that tree a million times better. Oh well. Someday it can be a second tree for us. Here is a shot for old times sake.

Sadly this was back in the days when I-Photo wouldn't send photos rotated. No matter what I tried. (They do now.) And I took this from my blog so it is still sideways. Ugh. Anyhow. On to the pretty stuff!And without the flash!
OOOH!

Our Stockings!

I know you want a close up of my ornament wreath I made last year and the vase of sparkly ball things I got at Robert's Craft just today. If you look close you will see jars and vases of them everywhere. 40% off coupons baby!If you have been part of my life lately, you have heard me complain about the little Nativity things I was working on. It started as an Enrichment project but took up my living room for about three weeks. They didn't really take that long, I was just slow to finish them. Ten minutes today, ten minutes in two days etc... Well they are all finally finished and ready to go. Here is my set on our mantle. Which would be the giant black entertainment center. Remnants of Clayton's bachelorhood.
P.S. One of our favorite comedians Demetri Martin has a bit about glitter. About how once you use it, it will be all over you and your belongings forever. He calls it "the herpes of craft supplies". Right now our house is riddled with it. So. If Clayton looks sparkly next time you see him you can blame me, and then make fun of him too.